Anyone else who had missed the Downhill mountain bike world title in South Africa by mere seconds might understandably be down, but Caroline Buchanan bounced back to claim mountain biking's World Four Cross title in Austria just weeks later, adding it to the BMX world title she claimed in New Zealand eight weeks previously.

The Buchanan family lost their house in the 2003 bushfires, but since that lowest of lows Caroline has done her all to bring success to the Buchanan name.

In 2009, just kilometres from the site of that home, Caroline claimed her first Four Cross world title at Stromlo Forest Park in front of a parochial crowd of thousands.

Since, the Canberra cyclist has taken on the world - on any wheels she can.

Talking the talk

Within an hour of her homecoming, with her bags full of world titles, the newly crowned World Four Cross Champion was in the 666 ABC Canberra studio for a chat with Ross Solly, but the idea of being a dual world champion is still setting in.

"Before the Olympic Games, a year out, I'd never won a world championship. I wasn't ranked even within the Top Ten to even qualify for the Olympic Games and I told myself, I told the world, that I wanted to win a gold medal for that and really tested myself how much I could step up and improve and to ride and train and live and do everything at my full potential," she told Ross.

She set herself a challenge to see how hard she could push herself and how much she could handle before she cracked - and she did, just a little.

"A little bit before the BMX world championships, I had quite a slump and had a month off actually leading right into the BMX world championship," Buchanan explained. "I had a big recharge and was able to wind down to wind back up. And that was crucial with the last 56 days from NZ to the US, Canada, South Africa and Europe and then home."

The world times three

When she set herself the goal to compete in three World Championships over 56 days, she knew she had to push herself physically and logistically.

Competing in three different sports - with different training regimes, energy levels, skills and mindset - is no ride in the park.

A downhill race is five minutes long, an endurance sport when compared to BMX which is power sprint at around 27 seconds - different again to the power of a 4X course.

Training for such a wide variety of events was tricky.

"A lot of the preparation got done in the first few months of the year leading into this because I knew, 56 days, all the work had to be done before it, then it was all about recovery, nutrition, sleep. Just making sure I was able to hold on for those last 2 months - and it was tough."

Would she do it all again?

An emphatic yet thoughtful "No" is her answer.

"I can say that now. I'd have grey hairs for sure if I tried to do it again. It's been a challenge but I think logistically, yeah, quite a nightmare".

The triple-crown may no longer be on the agenda, but don't think she's slowing down for a minute - Caroline flies out with her BMX bike for a competition in the Caribbean in October.